Is Spam getting worse?

[barnkin]

It's not just you I have been getting more than usual the last few days

[gaybucks_chip]

We use Appriver, an outsourced provider of spam filtering, who are simply amazing. Their false positive rate is very close to zero (I think we've had one or two over the past four years) and the number of spams that slip through is also very close to zero (I get maybe one or two a day.)

Here's what today's filter report says. Notice they even break it down by the type of crap they are filtering out for us:

Valid Mail 137 6.72%
Allowed Sender 21 1.03%
Blocked Rule 4 0.2%
Blocked Sender 1 0.05%
Country-Ban 114 5.59%
Virus 4 0.2%
Phishing 15 0.74%
Meds 523 25.65%
General 510 25.01%
Adult 251 12.31%
Truncated 143 7.01%
Gambling 92 4.51%
Cable Theft 67 3.29%
Debt/Credit 45 2.21%
Other Spam 43 2.11%
Obfuscation 23 1.13%
Abstract 22 1.08%
Scams 21 1.03%
Get Rich 2 0.1%
NewSource 1 0.05%

Total 2039
Total blocked 1881 92.25%

[gaybucks_chip]

Phooey. I tried to line them up but it totally didn't work. The first number is the number of messages, the second is the % of the total.

[Jasun]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to pay for SPAM protection... it's like being shaken down by the mob.

But yeah, I think we might have to do that eventually.

[cbl_chaz]

I have to check my email at LEAST ten times a day. Not just for leads, site applicants and general business, but to clear out the DAMN SPAM. If I don't, I end up with 10 to 20 pages of SPAM per day! Someday I'll have the time to sit down and put in the keyword filters to avoid some of this junk, but it's not foolproof and I HATE the fact that I have to spend my time keeping people out of my email that I didn't invite in in the FIRST place! The Med ads and the ED ads are the worst, followed by knock off watches, purses and gadgets. I get a few from various women who've been checking out my profile (LOL!) and then finally the get rich quick idiots. It's just ridiculous. It's a complete waste of time and space and I can't imagine that the positive return on any of this crap is worth the effort used to bring it to my email box!

[gaybucks_chip]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to pay for SPAM protection... it's like being shaken down by the mob.

But yeah, I think we might have to do that eventually.

I don't like it either... always wondered if the antivirus people are funding virus writers in Eastern Europe... but I looked at the amount of time I spend combing through the spam to find the legit messages, and then missing some legit ones anyway... and it was pretty much a no-brainer. These guys are like $20/month + .75/mailbox or something so when you think of the value of your time or your staff time, it doesn't take much to pay for it.

[gaybucks_chip]

actually I think I have a reseller account through the (dinky) hosting company I own, so if anyone is interested, I'll see what we pay for it. I think we get it for like $10/month instead of $20, but the per-box is about the same.

[abostonboy]

Not sure what is worse the SPAM or the "political" surveys.